Continuous equipment for pickling and slitting strip steel



P. U. VOSS 1 mg. 29,v 1967 CONTINUOUS EQUIPMENT FOR PICKLING AND SLITTING STRIP STEEL Filed Sept. 7, 1965 INVENTOR. PAUL u. \/0 s5 ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofifice 3,338,208 Patented Aug. 29, 1967 3,338,208 CONTINUOUS EQUIPMENT FOR PICKLING AND SLITTING STRIP STEEL Paul U. Voss, 1298 Lyonhurst, Birmingham, Mich. 48009 Filed Sept. 7, 1965, Ser. No. 485,257 1 Claim. (Cl. 118-38) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Equipment is disclosed for the continuous pickling and slitting, preferably in that order, of strip steel as received by an industrial steel processor from the rolling mill, as part of a continuous one-pass operation, followed continuously by the recoiling of the slits upon one or more reels, for delivery to the customer in exact width specified by the latter.

The present invention relates to equipment to carry out a continuous process in the plant of an industrial steel processor, for the concurrent pickling and slitting of strip steel in a continuous, one pass operation. In these respects the invention makes possible a considerable saving in the processors cost of preparing and furnishing coils of pickled strip steel, or sheets, in exact widths specified by a customers order.

As is well known, the business of a processor insofar as sales of steel and other metal strip stock is concerned, is that of a middleman between the usual large industrial strip rolling mill and aniultimate customer or retailer ordering the strip in coils or sheets of specified gauges and/or widths. Among the functions of the processor is to pickle, slit and possibly edge-trim the basic black steel, as furnished by the mill in large coils, to the customers exact specifications. Steel rolling mills do not usually concern themselves with such finishing operations, particularly that of slitting and especially when only a small amount is involved, although they usually trim the edges of the 'strip prior to coiling for storage or delivery, because of the fact that it is an unjustifiably costly operation. Hence the processor purchases large coils of basic steel strip from the mill in full width as rolled, and pickles and slits the same to specified smaller width or widths for delivery to the purchaser.

The customary procedure is for the steel processor to feed the strip stock, typically 18 gauge to 0.20" in thickness and 18" to 52" in width, from a mill-supplied coil or reel ranging in weight as high as 50,000 pounds, into a butt welder, by which it is secured to the trailing end of a preceding strip. The material is then drawn Successively through one or more tanks containing pickling acid of a single or varying chemical concentration, a washing tank and/or neutralizing alkaline tank and a drier, thence through oiling means and onto a take-up reel, still in the original considerable width as received from the mill.

Upon receipt of a customer's order specifying a smaller width or widths in strip or sheet form, the take-up reel is moved in the processors shop to a special slitting line, in which the strip steel is then slit lengthwise in accordance with the customers specification, being thereafter rewound in coils on a second take-up reel, or stacked and bound as sheets, for delivery. Manifestly, such individual pickling and slitting operations set up increased costs of personnel, handling equipment and multiplied space in the processors plant, which might otherwise well be devoted to increased processing production or other use.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide thus materially reducing the processors costs of operation in the respects mentioned above.

Another object of the invention is to provide equipment for the purpose described, in which the slitting unit may optionally be conveniently removable from association with the pickling line, for example, if orders requiring slitting to customer specification are comparatively infrequent.

Another object is to rovide combined and continuous strip pickling and slitting equipment, in which the slitting operation is performed after the pickled material is dried and before the slitted strips are oiled and wound on a take-up reel for transmittal to the customer. The need to provide a separate rewind or take-up reel for a full width coil and for the slitted strip coil is eliminated.

The foregoing as well as other objects will become more apparent as this description proceeds, especially when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a highly schematic view in side elevation, partially broken away, illustrating a typical installation for practicing the continuous combined pickling and slitting method of the invention, in which certain components of the equipment, such as a welding unit and the removable slitting unit, are represented simply in block form; and

FIGS. 2 and 3 are, respectively, fragmentary side elevational and top plan views, of a somewhat more structural nature, of the slitting unit referred to above.

The equipment of the invention, as depicted diagrammatically in FIG. 1 of the drawing, is very elongated in nature, typically extending about 350 feet in length from end to end. Its individual components in line are in the main well known to the art, hence will not be discussed in detail, but only to an extent sufficient to clarify their basic functioning and operational relationships to one another.

Thus, in the progression from right to left in FIG. 1, the equipment of the invention comprises a strip supply unit 10 from which coiled steel stock, as received in basic black form from the rolling mill, is initially drawn or fed for processing in accordance with the invention; a welder 12 at which successive coils threaded from and through unit 10 may be end-trimmed and butt welded to one another for a continuous procedure; an elongated pickling unit 14, including cleaning and drying means to be described; a removable slitting unit 16, at which the strip is subdivided into lengths of a given or different width; and a recoiler unit 18, by which these lengths are wound in side-by-side relation to one another upon a single rewind reel for delivery to the customer specifying the order. In the alternative, the material, as processed by pickling and slitting, may be cut to shorter sheet lengths, stacked and bound, but the advantages of the invention remain the same.

The strip supply unit 1-0 in general comprises a horizontally journaled, cone type pay-off or unwind reel 20, operated or controlled through suitable motor, gearing and clutch provisions and periodically replaced from a conventional coil car (not shown). Reel 20 has associated therewith a conventional hold-down or snubber roll and coil peeler device 21, which is pivoted on a horizontal axis at 22 and provided at 23 with appropriate fluid pressure means whereby it may be raised and lowered in relation to the steel strip S fed off reel 20 into a horizontal pass line indicated -by arrows in FIGS. 1 and 3.

The supply unit 10 also includes a pair of pinch rolls 25 and a three-roll flattener set 26, all motor-controlled, plus side guide means 27. By such means the strip S is flattened or straightened and longitudinally guided or registered for entry into the welder unit 12.

Welder unit 12 is entirely conventional, including various provisions (not shown) by which the strip may be clamped adjacent its rear terminal end, the rear transversely end-trimmed, and then the leading end of a following strip butt welded to it, as by a manual welder.

Departing from welder unit 12, the strip S enters the nip of a pair of motor driven pinch rolls 29, thence successively and respectively beneath and over a pair of longitudinally and vertically spaced, rubber covered deflector rolls 30, 31 of, say, 30 inches diameter. These are idlers, with manually adjustable strip side guide means 32 located between them.

Passing over the deflector roll 31, the strip S is pulled through the very elongated pickling unit 14, which is to be considered as incorporating the usual succession of 'bath compartments of pickling acid of varying concentration, also cold Water spray and hot water or steam rinse means. Pickled strip S issues past a lead-out roller 34 of tank unit 14, thence through Wringer rolls 35 and a motor driven blower type drier device 36; and as thus cleaned and dried, the strip S passes about a two roll, motor driven bridle set 38, the rolls of which exert pulling and drag action on the strip as it enters into the slitting unit 16 of the equipment.

Reference being had now to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawing, in the indicated progression from right to left in FIGS. 2 and 3, the unit 16 comprises a motor driven up-cut shear 40, by which the strip S is trimmed to final length at its trailing edge, a side guide device 41 immediately in advance of a motor driven pinch roll set 42, and a multiple blade slitter device 43. As indicated in FIG. 3, the last named device has a plurality of slitting discs 44 or equivalent cutters mounted on a driven shaft thereof, by which the strip S is subdivided longitudinally into partial width parallel lengths of equal or different widths.

Slitting unit 16 discharges the subdivided strips into a dual roller oiling device 46, whence the strips pass beneath a bending roll or cylinder 47, and are rewound onto a motor driven take-up or recoil reel 48 (FIG. 1), which has a fluid pressure-urged hold down roll 49 associated therewith. The reel 48 is adapted to be removed, when fully wound, by a coil delivery car 50, schematically shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing, and similar to that by which coils are carried to the supply unit 10.

As indicated above, it is desirable to provide means whereby the slitting and/ or trimming unit 16 may be removably associated with the remainder of the line of equipment. Any suitable and simple provision may be made for this purpose; and FIGS. 2 and 3 schematically show a suggested 'means in the form of transversely extending dovetail way members 52 slidably received in mating horizontal grooves formed in or on the floor supporting the unit 16.

Reference has been made to the fact that various units of the processing line of the invention are motor driven or controlled. While the types and power requirements of motors for this purpose actually constitute no part of the present invention, and are readily arrived at by those skilled in the art, a few such prime movers may be mentioned.

4 Thus, the strip supply unit 10 may be controlled in its unwind by a 3 H.P. A.C. motor (not shown) operating at 1200 rpm. and connected to the coil reel 20 through suitable clutch and drag brake means (not shown) on the reel shaft 54; and the flattener and pinch roll devices 25, 26 acting on the strip S may be operated from a geareddown 40 H.P. variable speed DC. motor (1150-23-00 r.p.m.), these devices being operated translationally by hydraulic cylinders 56.

Pinch rolls 29, intermittently engageable with the strip on the feed-out side of welded unit 12 under the control of hydraulic cylinder means 57, may be powered by a 10 H.P. A.C. motor 58 at 1200 rpm. through appropriate brake and reduction gearing. The rolls of the bridle set 38 are driven by 25 H.P., variable speed and braked DC. motors 60; and a hydraulic cylinder controlled pressure roll device presses strip S against the lowermost roll of set 38.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, which deal with the structure of slitting unit 16, although diagrammatically, the pinch roll set 42 of that unit is driven by a 5 H.P. variable speed (850-2500 r.p.m.) motor 62 operating through a reduction gear head and overrunning clutch device 63. The drive shaft 65 powering the actual slitter device 43 of unit 16 is driven by a 2.0 H.P. alternating current motor 66 at 1200 r.p.m.; and a 3 H.P. variable speed (1150-2800 r.p.m.) DC. motor 68 controls the oiling device 46. The bending cylinder 47 idles.

Reference again being had to FIG. 1, strip take-up rewind reel 48 is driven by a variable speed, brake-equipped 100 H.P. DC. motor 70 operating at about 1800 r.p.m., the motor 70 being coupled through a reduction ratio connection 71 to the shaft 72 of reel 48; and an air cylinder 74 is employed to operate the hold down roll 49.

It is seen from the above that the invention affords equipment utilizing well known components in its processing line, and requiring little or no alteration in the existing pickling line of the processors shop. The combined, singlepass pickling and slitting operation is carried out in a high speed, high output manner which contributes considerable in production efficiency to such a plant.

What I claim as my invention is:

Equipment for the continuous combined pickling and slitting of strip stock, comprising a supply reel for a coil of relatively unprocessed stock in a considerable side-to-side width, a line of pickling and slitting units, means to feed said stock from said coil through said units in the order named for the successive pickling and slitting of the stock into individual lengths, means for drying and oiling said lengths, and single reel means for recoiling said lengths continuously with and after the feed of the stock through said units and said drying and oiling means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,837,159 12/193 1 Fellows 134-15 2,166,583 7/1939 Critten 13415 3,040,608 6/ 1962 Peterson 134-9 X CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

R. L. BLEUTGE, Assistant Examiner. 

